US12513811B2 - Active gas generation apparatus - Google Patents

Active gas generation apparatus

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Publication number
US12513811B2
US12513811B2 US18/711,758 US202218711758A US12513811B2 US 12513811 B2 US12513811 B2 US 12513811B2 US 202218711758 A US202218711758 A US 202218711758A US 12513811 B2 US12513811 B2 US 12513811B2
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United States
Prior art keywords
dielectric film
cooling medium
electrode
space
active gas
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Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Active, expires
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US18/711,758
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English (en)
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US20250016904A1 (en
Inventor
Ren ARITA
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Toshiba Mitsubishi Electric Industrial Systems Corp
TMEIC Corp
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TMEIC Corp
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Assigned to TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI-ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION reassignment TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI-ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Assignors: ARITA, REN
Publication of US20250016904A1 publication Critical patent/US20250016904A1/en
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H05H—PLASMA TECHNIQUE; PRODUCTION OF ACCELERATED ELECTRICALLY-CHARGED PARTICLES OR OF NEUTRONS; PRODUCTION OR ACCELERATION OF NEUTRAL MOLECULAR OR ATOMIC BEAMS
    • H05H1/00—Generating plasma; Handling plasma
    • H05H1/24—Generating plasma
    • H05H1/2406—Generating plasma using dielectric barrier discharges, i.e. with a dielectric interposed between the electrodes
    • H05H1/2418—Generating plasma using dielectric barrier discharges, i.e. with a dielectric interposed between the electrodes the electrodes being embedded in the dielectric
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
    • H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
    • H01J37/32009—Arrangements for generation of plasma specially adapted for examination or treatment of objects, e.g. plasma sources
    • H01J37/32348—Dielectric barrier discharge
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
    • H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
    • H01J37/32431—Constructional details of the reactor
    • H01J37/3244—Gas supply means
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
    • H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
    • H01J37/32431—Constructional details of the reactor
    • H01J37/32532—Electrodes
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
    • H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
    • H01J37/32431—Constructional details of the reactor
    • H01J37/32532—Electrodes
    • H01J37/32568—Relative arrangement or disposition of electrodes; moving means
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H05H—PLASMA TECHNIQUE; PRODUCTION OF ACCELERATED ELECTRICALLY-CHARGED PARTICLES OR OF NEUTRONS; PRODUCTION OR ACCELERATION OF NEUTRAL MOLECULAR OR ATOMIC BEAMS
    • H05H1/00—Generating plasma; Handling plasma
    • H05H1/24—Generating plasma
    • H05H1/2406—Generating plasma using dielectric barrier discharges, i.e. with a dielectric interposed between the electrodes
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H05H—PLASMA TECHNIQUE; PRODUCTION OF ACCELERATED ELECTRICALLY-CHARGED PARTICLES OR OF NEUTRONS; PRODUCTION OR ACCELERATION OF NEUTRAL MOLECULAR OR ATOMIC BEAMS
    • H05H2245/00—Applications of plasma devices
    • H05H2245/40—Surface treatments
    • H05H2245/42—Coating or etching of large items

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates to an active gas generation apparatus having a parallel plate type electrode structure and generating active gas using dielectric barrier discharge.
  • a gap between a metal electrode (electrode conductive film) and a dielectric film (electrode dielectric film) facing each other or a gap between dielectric films facing each other serves as a discharge space.
  • Adopted to the conventional active gas generation apparatus is a parallel plate type dielectric barrier discharge in which a dielectric barrier discharge is generated in a discharge space, and material gas injected in the discharge space is activated to generate the active gas.
  • an active gas generation apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 is an example of an active gas generation apparatus in which the parallel plate type dielectric barrier discharge is adopted.
  • the active gas generally has a short lifetime as active gas (a period of time during which the active gas keeps high reactivity), thus the active gas needs to be supplied to a space where the active gas is to be used in a short time.
  • the active gas is also inactivated when colliding with the other material, thus it is not preferable to supply the active gas to a space where the active gas is used through a meandering pipe, for example.
  • a method of providing a plurality of through holes in one dielectric film is adopted to the first improvement structure described above. Accordingly, the first improvement structure has a problem that a size of the dielectric film needs to be increased in accordance with the processed object, and a size of an apparatus configuration increases.
  • the first improvement structure also has a problem that there is no mechanism of removing heat generated by discharge, and the dielectric film is broken by heat generation by the discharge.
  • the second improvement structure described above has a problem that a size of an apparatus configuration increases by reason that the plurality of discharge spaces need to be provided.
  • the present disclosure is to solve the above problems, and an object of the present disclosure is to provide an active gas generation apparatus having a structure of preventing insulation breakdown of at least a dielectric film.
  • the first electrode dielectric film is suppressed by the dielectric film suppression member from the upper side in the dielectric contact region.
  • a region where load is applied to the first electrode dielectric film by the dielectric film suppression member can be limited to a lower region of the dielectric contact region.
  • the active gas generation apparatus can fix the first electrode dielectric film between the dielectric contact region of the dielectric film suppression member and the support surface of the dielectric film support member without unnecessary bending stress applied to the first electrode dielectric film.
  • an electrode unit in the active gas generation apparatus can prevent insulation breakdown in a gap between the first electrode dielectric film and the dielectric film support member.
  • FIG. 1 A plan view schematically illustrating a planar structure of an active gas generation apparatus as an embodiment 1 according to the present disclosure.
  • FIG. 3 An explanation diagram (No. 1) schematically illustrating a planar structure of an electrode unit.
  • FIG. 4 An explanation diagram illustrating a cross-section structure of a B-B cross section in FIG. 3 .
  • FIG. 5 An explanation diagram (No. 2) schematically illustrating a planar structure of the electrode unit.
  • FIG. 7 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of a chassis.
  • FIG. 8 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of the chassis.
  • FIG. 10 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a cross-section structure of the high voltage side dielectric film.
  • FIG. 11 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of a ground side dielectric film.
  • FIG. 12 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a cross-section structure of a ground side dielectric film.
  • FIG. 13 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of a power supply body.
  • FIG. 14 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a cross-section structure of the power supply body.
  • FIG. 15 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of a ground conductor.
  • FIG. 16 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a cross-section structure of the ground conductor.
  • FIG. 17 An explanation diagram illustrating details of a focus region in FIG. 16 .
  • FIG. 18 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of a cover dielectric film.
  • FIG. 19 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a cross-section structure of the cover dielectric film.
  • FIG. 20 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of a ground side electrode constituting part.
  • FIG. 21 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a cross-section structure of the ground side electrode constituting part.
  • FIG. 22 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of a shield dielectric film.
  • FIG. 23 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a cross-section structure of the shield dielectric film.
  • FIG. 24 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of a dielectric film support member.
  • FIG. 25 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a cross-section structure of a dielectric film support member.
  • FIG. 26 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of a dielectric film suppression member.
  • FIG. 27 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a cross-section structure of the dielectric film suppression member.
  • FIG. 28 An explanation diagram illustrating details of a focus region in FIG. 27 .
  • FIG. 29 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of a press member.
  • FIG. 30 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a cross-section structure of the press member.
  • FIG. 31 A plan view schematically illustrating a planar structure of an active gas generation apparatus as an embodiment 2 according to the present disclosure.
  • FIG. 32 A cross-sectional view illustrating a cross-section structure of a D-D cross section in FIG. 31 .
  • FIG. 33 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of a power supply body used in an electrode unit in an active gas generation apparatus according to an embodiment 3.
  • FIG. 34 An explanation diagram illustrating a cross-section structure of an E-E cross section in FIG. 33 .
  • FIG. 37 An explanation diagram illustrating a cross-section structure of an electrode unit in an active gas generation apparatus according to an embodiment 4.
  • FIG. 38 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of a high voltage side dielectric film illustrated in FIG. 37 .
  • FIG. 39 An explanation diagram schematically illustrating a cross-section structure of the high voltage side dielectric film illustrated in FIG. 37 .
  • FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically illustrating a planar structure of an active gas generation apparatus 71 as an embodiment 1 according to the present disclosure.
  • each electrode unit 51 to 53 are housed in a chassis 1 in the active gas generation apparatus 71 .
  • Material gas G 1 is supplied to each of the electrode units 51 to 53 through a gas flow path 21 .
  • Each of the electrode units 51 to 53 activates the material gas G 1 supplied to a discharge space 4 to generate active gas G 2 .
  • FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a cross-section structure of an A-A cross section in FIG. 1 .
  • FIG. 3 to FIG. 6 are explanation diagrams each partially illustrating a structure of an electrode unit 50 .
  • the electrode unit 50 corresponds to any of the electrode units 51 to 53 .
  • the electrode units 51 to 53 have the same structure as each other.
  • FIG. 3 is an explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of the electrode unit 50 .
  • FIG. 4 is an explanation diagram illustrating a cross-section structure of a B-B cross section in FIG. 3 .
  • Each of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 is a first explanation diagram illustrating a structure of a ground conductor 6 and an area around the ground conductor 6 .
  • FIG. 5 is an explanation diagram schematically illustrating a planar structure of the electrode unit 50 .
  • FIG. 6 is an explanation diagram illustrating a cross-section structure of a C-C cross section in FIG. 5 .
  • Each of FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 is a second explanation diagram illustrating a detailed structure of the ground conductor 6 and the area around the ground conductor 6 .
  • FIG. 7 to FIG. 30 are explanation diagrams each illustrating details of constituent components of the electrode unit 50 .
  • FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are explanation diagrams each schematically illustrating a structure of the chassis 1 .
  • FIG. 7 illustrates a planar structure of the chassis 1
  • FIG. 8 illustrates a cross-section structure of the chassis 1 .
  • FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 are explanation diagrams each schematically illustrating a structure of a high voltage side dielectric film 2 .
  • FIG. 9 illustrates a planar structure of the high voltage side dielectric film 2
  • FIG. 10 illustrates a cross-section structure of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 .
  • FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 are explanation diagrams each schematically illustrating a structure of a ground side dielectric film 3 .
  • FIG. 11 illustrates a planar structure of the ground side dielectric film 3
  • FIG. 12 illustrates a cross-section structure of the ground side dielectric film 3 .
  • FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 are explanation diagrams each schematically illustrating a structure of a power supply body 5 .
  • FIG. 13 illustrates a planar structure of the power supply body 5
  • FIG. 14 illustrates a cross-section structure of the power supply body 5 .
  • FIG. 15 and FIG. 17 are explanation diagrams each schematically illustrating a structure of a ground conductor 6 .
  • FIG. 15 illustrates a planar structure of the ground conductor 6
  • FIG. 16 illustrates a cross-section structure of the ground conductor 6
  • FIG. 17 illustrates details of a focus region R 1 in FIG. 16 .
  • FIG. 18 and FIG. 19 are explanation diagrams each schematically illustrating a structure of a cover dielectric film 8 .
  • FIG. 18 illustrates a planar structure of the cover dielectric film 8
  • FIG. 19 illustrates a cross-section structure of the cover dielectric film
  • FIG. 20 and FIG. 21 are explanation diagrams each schematically illustrating a
  • FIG. 20 illustrates a planar structure of the ground side electrode constituting part E 2
  • FIG. 21 illustrates a cross-section structure of the ground side electrode constituting part E 2
  • the ground side electrode constituting part E 2 includes a combination structure of the ground side dielectric film 3 , a conductive film 7 , and the cover dielectric film 8 .
  • FIG. 22 and FIG. 23 are explanation diagrams each schematically illustrating a structure of a shield dielectric film 9 .
  • FIG. 22 illustrates a planar structure of the shield dielectric film 9
  • FIG. 23 illustrates a cross-section structure of the shield dielectric film 9 .
  • FIG. 24 and FIG. 25 are explanation diagrams each schematically illustrating a structure of a dielectric film support member 10 .
  • FIG. 24 illustrates a planar structure of the dielectric film support member 10
  • FIG. 25 illustrates a cross-section structure of the dielectric film support member 10 .
  • FIG. 26 to FIG. 28 are explanation diagrams each schematically illustrating a structure of a dielectric film suppression member 11 .
  • FIG. 26 illustrates a planar structure of the dielectric film suppression member 11
  • FIG. 27 illustrates a cross-section structure of the dielectric film suppression member 11
  • FIG. 28 illustrates details of a focus region R 2 in FIG. 27 .
  • FIG. 29 and FIG. 30 are explanation diagrams each schematically illustrating a structure of a press member 12 .
  • FIG. 29 illustrates a planar structure of the press member 12
  • FIG. 30 illustrates a cross-section structure of the press member 12 .
  • FIG. 1 to FIG. 30 schematically illustrates constituent components of the active gas generation apparatus 71 , the electrode unit 50 , or the electrode unit 50 , and a shape including scale reduction does not necessarily coincide with each other in FIG. 1 to FIG. 30 .
  • An XYZ rectangular coordinate system is illustrated in each of FIG. 1 to FIG. 30 .
  • the active gas generation apparatus 71 according to the embodiment 1 is described hereinafter appropriately with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 30 described above.
  • the active gas generation apparatus 71 includes the electrode units 51 to 53 as the plurality of electrode units and the chassis 1 housing the electrode units 51 to 53 in a chassis space S 1 (refer to FIG. 8 ) and having conductivity.
  • the chassis 1 includes a chassis bottom part 1 a including a flat surface 1 F and a conductor housing space 6 S concaved from the flat surface 1 F in a depth direction.
  • the chassis 1 includes the chassis bottom part 1 a , a chassis side part 1 b , and a chassis upper part 1 c , and the chassis space S 1 housing the electrode units 51 to 53 therein is formed by the chassis bottom part 1 a , the chassis side part 1 b , and the chassis upper part 1 c.
  • Each of the electrode units 51 to 53 is housed in the chassis space S 1 in the chassis 1 in a state where the ground conductor 6 is disposed in the conductor housing space 6 S.
  • the material gas G 1 supplied from an outer portion is supplied to a material gas flow space provided in a lower surface and a side surface of the ground conductor 6 disposed in the conductor housing space 6 S through the gas flow path 21 provided in the chassis bottom part 1 a.
  • the electrode unit 51 ( 50 ) includes a high voltage side electrode constituting part E 1 as a first electrode constituting part and the ground side electrode constituting part E 2 as a second electrode constituting part provided on a lower side of the high voltage side electrode constituting part E 1 as the first electrode constituting part.
  • the electrode unit 51 further includes the ground conductor 6 as a reference potential conductor provided on a lower side of the ground side electrode constituting part E 2 as the second electrode constituting part and housed in the conductor housing space 6 S.
  • the ground conductor 6 includes a conductor such as metal as a constituent material.
  • the high voltage side electrode constituting part E 1 includes the high voltage side dielectric film 2 as the first electrode dielectric film and the power supply body 5 as the first electrode conductive film formed on the upper surface of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 .
  • the power supply body 5 as the first electrode conductive film is provided on a power supply body arrangement concave part 28 provided in a center of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 as the first electrode dielectric film.
  • the high voltage side dielectric film 2 includes a dielectric as a constituent material
  • the power supply body 5 includes a conductor such as metal as a constituent material.
  • the power supply body 5 is made of metal.
  • the ground side electrode constituting part E 2 includes the ground side dielectric film 3 as the second electrode dielectric film and the conductive film 7 as the second electrode conductive film formed on the lower surface of the ground side dielectric film 3 .
  • the conductive film 7 has a small film thickness, thus illustration thereof is omitted in FIG. 2 etc., and a formation region of the conductive film 7 is illustrated in FIG. 20 and FIG. 21 .
  • the ground side dielectric film 3 includes a dielectric as a constituent material
  • the conductive film 7 includes a conductor such as metal as a constituent material.
  • the ground conductor 6 as the reference potential conductor includes an active gas buffer space 68 which does not pass through an upper portion, and the ground side electrode constituting part E 2 is disposed to cover the active gas buffer space 68 . Accordingly, a lower surface of the conductive film 7 and an upper surface of the ground conductor 6 have a contact relationship on an outer side of the active gas buffer space 68 .
  • the ground side dielectric film 3 as the second electrode dielectric film includes a dielectric through port 3 h passing through the ground side dielectric film 3 in a region overlapped with the active gas buffer space 68 in a plan view
  • the conductive film 7 as the second electrode conductive film includes a conductive film opening part 7 h in a region overlapped with the active gas buffer space 68 in a plan view
  • the conductive film opening part 7 h is overlapped with the dielectric through port 3 h in a plan view.
  • the chassis bottom part 1 a of the chassis 1 includes the gas flow path 21 receiving the material gas G 1 from an outer portion, and a material gas flow space is provided between the ground conductor 6 and the conductor housing space 6 S in the chassis 1 .
  • the material gas flow space includes a material gas buffer space 61 , a slit space 62 , and a side surface space 63 .
  • the material gas G 1 is introduced into a main discharge space of the discharge space 4 through the gas flow path 21 and the material gas flow space described above. As described hereinafter, the main discharge space indicates the discharge space 4 in a dielectric space 18 between the high voltage side dielectric film 2 and the ground side dielectric film 3 .
  • Alternating-current voltage applied from an alternating-current power source 15 is applied to the power supply body 5 as the first electrode conductive film via an electrical connection means such as an electrical wiring or an introduction terminal. Illustration of the electrical connection means is omitted in FIG. 2 etc.
  • the chassis 1 is set to have ground potential as reference potential. Accordingly, the conductive film 7 as the second electrode conductive film is set to have ground potential via the chassis 1 and the ground conductor 6 .
  • the electrode unit 51 ( 50 ) further includes an auxiliary member such as the dielectric film support member 10 , the dielectric film suppression member 11 , and the press member 12 .
  • a level difference part 102 of the dielectric film support member 10 includes an upper surface serving as a support surface 10 F provided on the flat surface 1 F of the chassis 1 to support the high voltage side dielectric film 2 from a lower side. At this time, the dielectric film support member 10 is disposed on the flat surface 1 F so that a side surface of the dielectric film support member 10 and a side surface of the conductor housing space 6 S on the chassis bottom part 1 a of the chassis 1 coincide with each other.
  • the dielectric film suppression member 11 is a member for suppressing the high voltage side dielectric film 2 from an upper side, and is not overlapped with the power supply body 5 in a plan view. That is to say, an exposed region EX 2 where the dielectric film suppression member 11 and the power supply body 5 are not formed is located on the upper surface of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 .
  • a lower surface of the dielectric film suppression member 11 includes a dielectric contact region 112 having contact with the upper surface of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 and a dielectric non-contact region 111 which does not have contact with the upper surface of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 .
  • the dielectric contact region 112 serves as a region having contact with the high voltage side dielectric film 2 to apply load
  • the dielectric non-contact region 111 serves as a region protruding to a side of the power supply body 5 on the upper surface of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 without having a contact relationship with the high voltage side dielectric film 2 .
  • the dielectric contact region 112 is overlapped with a peripheral region of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 and the support surface 10 F of the dielectric film support member 10 in a plan view, and the dielectric non-contact region 111 is overlapped with an intermediate region on an inner side of the peripheral region of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 . That is to say, the intermediate region is a region adjacent to a side of the power supply body 5 from the peripheral region of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 .
  • the dielectric film suppression member 11 is made of metal etc., has conductivity, and is set to have ground potential as reference potential via the chassis 1 , an attachment bolt 31 , and the press member 12 .
  • the attachment bolt 31 and the press member 12 also have conductivity.
  • the high voltage side dielectric film 2 is suppressed by the dielectric film suppression member 11 from the upper side in the dielectric contact region 112 .
  • a combination structure of the dielectric film support member 10 , the dielectric film suppression member 11 , and the press member 12 is described in detail hereinafter.
  • the press member 12 is disposed on the upper surface of the dielectric film support member 10 , and the press member 12 and the dielectric film support member 10 are fixed on the chassis bottom part 1 a of the chassis 1 by the attachment bolt 31 .
  • the dielectric film support member 10 has a circular shape having a center opening part 100 in a center thereof in a plan view.
  • a level difference structure made up of a level difference part 102 and a peripheral part upper surface 101 is provided to have an annular shape around the center opening part 100 .
  • An upper surface of the level difference part 102 serves as the support surface 10 F.
  • a plurality of through ports 10 h are dispersedly disposed to have a circular shape in the peripheral part upper surface 101 on a side of an outer periphery of the level difference part 102 (the support surface 10 F).
  • the high voltage side dielectric film 2 has a circular shape with the power supply body arrangement concave part 28 in a center thereof in a plan view.
  • a peripheral surface region 27 is provided to have an annular shape around the power supply body arrangement concave part 28 .
  • the high voltage side dielectric film 2 includes a circular concave part bottom surface 26 in a plan view, and a bottom surface around the concave part bottom surface 26 serves as an annular convex part bottom surface 23 .
  • the power supply body 5 has a columnar shape.
  • the power supply body 5 is disposed on the upper surface of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 while a bottom surface of the power supply body 5 is located on the power supply body arrangement concave part 28 of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 .
  • Alternating-current voltage is applied to the power supply body 5 as the first electrode conductive film from the alternating-current power source 15 .
  • the power supply body arrangement concave part 28 includes the power supply body 5 in a plan view, and has a planar shape slightly larger than the power supply body 5 .
  • the high voltage side dielectric film 2 is disposed on the dielectric film support member 10 while the support surface 10 F of the dielectric film support member 10 and the convex part bottom surface 23 of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 have contact with each other.
  • the high voltage side dielectric film 2 and the dielectric film support member 10 have contact with each other via a seal member such as an O ring not shown in the diagrams.
  • the dielectric film suppression member 11 has a circular shape having a center opening part 110 in a center thereof in a plan view.
  • An annular lower surface region provided on a side of an outer periphery of the center opening part 110 serves as the dielectric non-contact region 111
  • an annular lower surface region provided on a side of an outer periphery of the dielectric non-contact region 111 serves as the dielectric contact region 112 .
  • the dielectric contact region 112 protrudes to a lower side of the dielectric non-contact region 111 ( ⁇ Z direction), and has a contact relationship with an upper surface U 2 of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 .
  • a gap SP 11 is located between the dielectric non-contact region 111 and the upper surface U 2 of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 , thus the dielectric non-contact region 111 does not have contact with the upper surface U 2 of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 .
  • the press member 12 has a circular shape having a center opening part 120 in a center thereof in a plan view.
  • a plurality of inner through ports 121 h are dispersedly disposed to have a circular shape in an outer peripheral region 125 on a side of an outer periphery of the center opening part 120
  • a plurality of outer through ports 122 h are dispersedly disposed to have a circular shape on a side of an outer periphery of the plurality of inner through ports 121 h.
  • each of the plurality of inner through ports 121 h and the plurality of outer through ports 122 h are provided in the outer peripheral region 125 of the press member 12 .
  • Each of the plurality of inner through ports 121 h is a through port made by cutting a tap.
  • a part of the outer peripheral region 125 in the press member 12 having the above structure is disposed on the dielectric film support member 10 , and the dielectric film support member 10 and the press member 12 are fixed to the chassis bottom part 1 a of the chassis 1 by the plurality of attachment bolts 31 .
  • a screw part of each of the plurality of attachment bolts 31 passes through the plurality of outer through ports 122 h and the plurality of through ports 10 h , and is attached to the chassis bottom part 1 a.
  • the press member 12 is disposed in a region overlapped with the dielectric film support member 10 and the dielectric film suppression member 11 in a plan view.
  • a plurality of suppression auxiliary members 32 are attached to the press member 12 while passing through the plurality of inner through ports 121 h of the press member 12 .
  • a bolt or a locking screw is considered as the suppression auxiliary member 32 .
  • the plurality of suppression auxiliary members 32 attach the dielectric film suppression member 11 to an inner side of the plurality of inner through ports 121 h while pressing the dielectric film suppression member 11 .
  • the plurality of suppression auxiliary members 32 are provided in positions overlapped with the dielectric contact region 112 of the dielectric film suppression member 11 and the convex part bottom surface 23 of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 in a plan view.
  • the high voltage side dielectric film 2 is suppressed from the dielectric contact region 112 on an outer side by the dielectric film suppression member 11 receiving suppress strength of the plurality of suppression auxiliary members 32 .
  • the high voltage side dielectric film 2 as the first electrode dielectric film is suppressed from the dielectric contact region 112 on the upper side by the dielectric film suppression member 11 receiving suppress strength of the plurality of suppression auxiliary members 32 .
  • a region in which load is applied to the high voltage side dielectric film 2 by the dielectric film suppression member 11 can be limited to a lower region of the dielectric contact region 112 .
  • the active gas generation apparatus 71 according to the embodiment 1 can stably fix the high voltage side dielectric film 2 between the dielectric contact region 112 of the dielectric film suppression member 11 and the support surface 10 F of the dielectric film support member 10 without unnecessary bending stress applied to the high voltage side dielectric film 2 .
  • the dielectric film suppression member 11 is set to have ground potential as reference potential, and has conductivity.
  • the dielectric non-contact region 111 of the dielectric film suppression member 11 is overlapped with the intermediate region of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 in a plan view.
  • the electrode unit 50 can reduce electrical field strength of the power supply body 5 by the dielectric film suppression member 11 including the dielectric non-contact region 111 to reduce potential of the intermediate region of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 , thus potential of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 and the ground side dielectric film 3 in an outer diameter direction can be reduced.
  • the electrode unit 50 in the active gas generation apparatus 71 according to the embodiment 1 can reliably prevent insulation breakdown in a gap 20 between the high voltage side dielectric film 2 and the dielectric film support member 10 .
  • the ground conductor 6 housed in the conductor housing space 6 S in the chassis 1 has a circular shape in a plan view, and includes the material gas buffer space 61 and the slit space 62 in an end portion region in the bottom surface.
  • the material gas buffer space 61 is formed into an annular shape in a plan view, and is connected to the gas flow path 21 as illustrated in FIG. 2 , thus can take the material gas G 1 supplied from an outer portion in the material gas buffer space 61 via the gas flow path 21 .
  • the plurality of slit spaces 62 are dispersedly provided around the material gas buffer space 61 . As illustrated in FIG. 17 , each of the plurality of slit spaces 62 is connected to the material gas buffer space 61 , and the material gas G 1 can flow from the material gas buffer space 61 to the slit space 62 .
  • the side surface space 63 is a gap space between an inner peripheral side surface of the conductor housing space 6 S and an outer peripheral side surface of the ground conductor 6 , and is annularly provided in a plan view.
  • the dielectric film support member 10 and the ground conductor 6 have a positional relationship as illustrated in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , thus the material gas G 1 passing through the side surface space 63 is supplied to a lower side surface region R 10 in the dielectric film support member 10 .
  • the material gas buffer space 61 is provided on the side of the lower surface of the ground conductor 6 to receive the material gas G 1 through the gas flow path 21 .
  • Each of the plurality of slit spaces 62 is provided on the side of the lower surface of the ground conductor 6 , and is connected to the material gas buffer space 61 .
  • the side surface space 63 is provided on a side of the side surface of the ground conductor 6 , and is connected to the plurality of slit spaces.
  • the material gas flow space includes the material gas buffer space 61 , the plurality of slit spaces 62 , and the side surface space 63 .
  • the material gas G 1 supplied to the gas flow path 21 from the outer portion is introduced into the discharge space 4 through the material gas buffer space 61 , the slit space 62 , and the side surface space 63 .
  • Each of the plurality of slit spaces 62 is set to be a narrow space in which material gas hardly flows compared with the material gas buffer space 61 so that the material gas G 1 temporarily remains in the material gas buffer space 61 , and then flows into each of the plurality of slit spaces 62 . That is to say, the plurality of slit spaces 62 are set to have small conductance as a coefficient expressing a degree of flowability of the material gas G 1 compared with the material gas buffer space 61 and the side surface space 63 .
  • the active gas generation apparatus 71 can uniformly supply the material gas G 1 spatially to the discharge space 4 . That is to say, the material gas G 1 is uniformly supplied from a peripheral part of the circular dielectric space 18 toward the discharge space 4 in the center in a plan view.
  • the conductance of the slit space 62 is set to be small, thus differential pressure between the material gas buffer space 61 and the side surface space 63 increases, and fluctuation of a flow amount of the material gas G 1 flowing in each of the plurality of slit spaces 62 is reduced. Accordingly, the material gas G 1 is uniformly supplied toward the discharge space 4 .
  • a flow amount of the material gas G 1 is adjusted by a mass flow controller (MFC) provided on an upstream of the gas flow path 21 , for example.
  • MFC mass flow controller
  • the active gas generation apparatus 71 can uniformly supply the material gas G 1 , thus the failure described above does not occur.
  • the ground side electrode constituting part E 2 as the second electrode constituting part includes the ground side dielectric film 3 and the conductive film 7 .
  • the ground side dielectric film 3 has a circular shape in a plan view, and includes the circular dielectric through port 3 h in the center thereof.
  • the cover dielectric film 8 has a circular shape in a plan view, and includes a circular cover through port 8 h in the center thereof. It is preferable that the same constituent material is used for the cover dielectric film 8 and the ground side dielectric film 3 . The reason is that occurrence of distortion is prevented in a case where a thermal expansion coefficient is different between the cover dielectric film 8 and the ground side dielectric film 3 . It is also applicable to select a material having a close thermal expansion coefficient as a material of each of the cover dielectric film 8 and the ground side dielectric film 3 .
  • the conductive film 7 has a circular shape in a plan view, and includes the circular conductive film opening part 7 in the center thereof in a plan view.
  • Each of the dielectric through port 3 h and the conductive film opening part 7 h is overlapped with an active gas buffer space 68 in a plan view, and as illustrated in FIG. 21 , the conductive film opening part 7 h includes the dielectric through port 3 h and has a shape larger than the dielectric through port 3 h in a plan view.
  • the conductive film 7 is provided on the lower surface of the ground side dielectric film 3 while a center position of each of the ground side dielectric film 3 and the conductive film 7 coincides with each other.
  • a diameter of the conductive film 7 is set to be substantially the same as that of the ground side dielectric film 3 , however, a formation area of the conductive film 7 is smaller than that of the ground side dielectric film 3 by reason that the conductive film opening part 7 h larger than the dielectric through port 3 h is provided in the center thereof.
  • a conductive film inner boundary 7 e as a circumferential outer peripheral line of the conductive film opening part 7 h serves as an end portion of the conductive film 7 on a side of the dielectric through port 3 h , and the conductive film 7 is not formed in a region on an inner side of the conductive film inner boundary 7 e .
  • the conductive film inner boundary 7 e serves as an electrode boundary line of the conductive film 7 . Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. 21 , a formation region A 7 of the conductive film 7 on the lower surface of the ground side dielectric film 3 is a region ranging from a position of an outer periphery of the ground side dielectric film 3 to the conductive film inner boundary 7 e.
  • the cover dielectric film 8 is provided to have a circular shape from the lower surface of the ground side dielectric film 3 to the lower surface of the conductive film 7 while including the conductive film inner boundary 7 e .
  • the cover dielectric film 8 includes the cover through port 8 h in a center thereof. That is to say, there is a dimensional relationship that an outer diameter of the conductive film opening part 7 h of the conductive film 7 is smaller than that of the cover dielectric film 8 .
  • the cover through port 8 h has substantially the same shape as the dielectric through port 3 h , and is included in the conductive film opening part 7 h , thus has a shape smaller than the conductive film opening part 7 h . Accordingly, the cover dielectric film 8 covers the conductive film inner boundary 7 e (electrode boundary line) of the conductive film 7 .
  • the lower surface of the conductive film 7 which is not covered by the cover dielectric film 8 and the upper surface of the ground conductor 6 have a contact relationship with each other.
  • the active gas buffer space 68 provided on the upper portion of the ground conductor 6 has a circular shape in a plan view, and a plurality of gas ejection ports 69 are provided around a bottom surface 65 of the active gas buffer space 68 .
  • FIG. 15 and FIG. 16 also illustrate a formation region of the cover dielectric film 8 . As illustrated in FIG. 15 and FIG. 16 , an outer peripheral line of the cover dielectric film 8 is substantially the same as that of the active gas buffer space 68 .
  • the shield dielectric film 9 is provided on the bottom surface 65 of the active gas buffer space 68 .
  • the shield dielectric film 9 is formed into a circular shape with a predetermined film thickness in a plan view.
  • the shield dielectric film 9 is provided on the bottom surface 65 of the active gas buffer space 68 while a center position of each of the active gas buffer space 68 and the shield dielectric film 9 coincides with each other.
  • the plurality of gas ejection ports 69 are overlapped with the cover dielectric film 8 in a plan view, and are not overlapped with the dielectric through port 3 h and the cover through port 8 h in a plan view.
  • the plurality of gas ejection ports 69 are provided around the bottom surface 65 of the active gas buffer space 68 to pass through the ground conductor 6 . That is to say, the plurality of gas ejection ports 69 are provided in a peripheral region of the shield dielectric film 9 in a plan view.
  • the material gas G 1 is supplied from the outer portion of the metal chassis 2 to the discharge space 4 through the gas flow path 21 and the material gas flow space as described above.
  • the material gas G 1 When the material gas G 1 is supplied to the discharge space 4 where the dielectric barrier discharge occurs, the material gas G 1 is activated to be the active gas G 2 , and passes through the dielectric through port 3 h and the cover through port 8 h to be introduced into the active gas buffer space 68 .
  • the active gas G 2 entering the active gas buffer space 68 passes through the plurality of gas ejection ports 69 provided in the bottom surface of the active gas buffer space 68 to be supplied to a processing space in a subsequent stage.
  • a main dielectric space where the high voltage side dielectric film 2 as the first electrode dielectric film and the ground side dielectric film 3 as the second electrode dielectric film face each other serves as the dielectric space 18 .
  • the dielectric space 18 has a circular shape in a plan view.
  • a space where the high voltage side dielectric film 2 and the shield dielectric film 9 face each other is defined as an auxiliary dielectric space.
  • the discharge space 4 includes a main discharge space where the power supply body 5 and the conductive film 7 are overlapped with each other in a plan view in the dielectric space 18 .
  • the high voltage side dielectric film 2 and the ground side dielectric film 3 are disposed to correspond to each other so as to have a constant distance therebetween in a height direction (Z direction), and the main discharge space described above is located in the dielectric space 18 between the high voltage side dielectric film 2 and the ground side dielectric film 3 .
  • the discharge space 4 further includes an auxiliary discharge space 44 made up of the dielectric through port 3 h , the cover through port 8 h , and a part of the active gas buffer space 68 on the shield dielectric film 9 in the auxiliary dielectric space described above.
  • a bottom surface region below the bottom surface 65 of the ground conductor 6 is used as a ground electrode conductive film set to have ground potential, and discharge voltage is applied between the power supply body 5 receiving alternating current voltage from the alternating-current power source 15 and the ground electrode conductive film described above, thus the auxiliary discharge space 44 can be generated.
  • the auxiliary discharge space 44 includes the dielectric through port 3 h , the cover through port 8 h , and a part of the active gas buffer space 68 .
  • the discharge space 4 formed in the embodiment 1 includes the main discharge space and the auxiliary discharge space 44 in the dielectric space 18 .
  • a path from the auxiliary discharge space 44 to each of the plurality of gas ejection ports 69 is defined as the active gas flow path.
  • the auxiliary discharge space 44 as a part of the discharge space 4 includes the dielectric through port 3 h , the cover through port 8 h , and a part of the active gas buffer space 68 , thus can suppress the active gas flow path from the auxiliary discharge space 44 to the plurality of gas ejection ports 69 to have a minimum necessary volume to suppress a deactivation amount of the active gas G 2 .
  • the cover dielectric film 8 in the ground side electrode constituting part E 2 of the electrode unit 50 covers the conductive film inner boundary 7 e as the electrode boundary line of the conductive film 7 in the active gas buffer space 68 , and is overlapped with the plurality of gas ejection ports 69 in a plan view, thus can suppress a surface deactivation phenomenon in which the active gas G 2 gets dissipated due to collision of the active gas G 2 with the conductive film 7 .
  • the active gas generation apparatus 71 can supply the high concentration active gas G 2 from the plurality of gas ejection ports 69 to the processing space in the subsequent stage.
  • the electrode unit 50 according to the embodiment 1 has the structure described above, thus only the components (the high voltage side dielectric film 2 , the ground side dielectric film 3 , the cover dielectric film 8 , and the shield dielectric film 9 ) made up of the dielectric serving as the insulator as the constituent material face the discharge space 4 .
  • the components the high voltage side dielectric film 2 , the ground side dielectric film 3 , the cover dielectric film 8 , and the shield dielectric film 9 ) made up of the dielectric serving as the insulator as the constituent material face the discharge space 4 .
  • the chassis bottom part 1 a of the chassis 1 includes a chassis opening part 41 .
  • the chassis opening part 41 is provided in a region overlapped with the active gas buffer space 68 in a plan view, and passes through the chassis bottom part 1 a.
  • the active gas G 2 ejected from the plurality of gas ejection ports 69 is introduced into the processing space on the lower side through the chassis opening part 41 .
  • the chassis opening part 41 provided in the chassis bottom part 1 a has a larger opening area with decreasing distance to the lower side, and has a tapered shape with a lowermost outer peripheral edge 41 L as illustrated in FIG. 2 and FIG. 7 .
  • the chassis opening part 41 provided in the chassis bottom part 1 a of the chassis 1 has the tapered shape with the larger opening area with decreasing distance to the lower side.
  • the active gas generation apparatus 71 can suppress loss of the active gas G 2 ejected from the plurality of gas ejection ports 69 due to collision of the active gas G 2 with the chassis bottom part 1 a to a minimum, thus can supply the high concentration active gas G 2 to the processing space on the lower side.
  • FIG. 31 is a plan view schematically illustrating a planar structure of an active gas generation apparatus 72 as an embodiment 2 according to the present disclosure.
  • FIG. 32 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a cross-section structure of a D-D cross section in FIG. 31 .
  • the active gas generation apparatus 72 In the active gas generation apparatus 72 according to the embodiment 2, three electrode units 51 to 53 as the plurality of electrode units are housed in the chassis space S 1 in a chassis 1 X. Material gas G 1 is supplied to each of the electrode units 51 to 53 through the gas flow path 21 .
  • a cooling path in which a cooling medium flows is further provided in addition to the gas flow path 21 in the chassis bottom part 1 a of the chassis 1 X in the active gas generation apparatus 72 .
  • the cooling path 22 is provided on the lower side of the ground conductor 6 of each of the electrode units 51 to 53 . That is to say, the cooling path 22 and the ground conductor 6 of each of the electrode units 51 to 53 are overlapped with each other in a plan view.
  • the active gas generation apparatus 72 according to the embodiment 2 having the configuration describe above has an effect described hereinafter in addition to the effect in the embodiment 1.
  • the chassis bottom part 1 a of the chassis 1 X includes the cooling path 22 in which the cooling medium flows, thus the ground conductor 6 of each of the electrode units 51 to 53 and the ground side dielectric film 3 disposed on the upper side of the ground conductor 6 can be cooled.
  • the active gas generation apparatus 72 can perform discharge at high power in each of the electrode units 51 to 53 , thus can achieve a high concentration of the active gas G 2 .
  • FIG. 33 and FIG. 34 are explanation diagrams each illustrating a structure of a power supply body 5 B used in each of the electrode units 51 to 53 in an active gas generation apparatus 73 according to an embodiment 3.
  • FIG. 33 illustrates a planar structure of the power supply body 5 B
  • FIG. 34 illustrates a cross-section structure of an E-E cross section in FIG. 33 .
  • the active gas generation apparatus 73 according to the embodiment 3 has a feature that the power supply body 5 is replaced with the power supply body 5 B in comparison with the embodiment 1. Accordingly, a whole structure of the active gas generation apparatus 73 and a whole structure of the electrode unit 50 ( 51 to 53 ) are similar to the structure according to the embodiment 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 to FIG. 30 or the embodiment 2 illustrated in FIG. 31 and FIG. 32 .
  • a lower surface of the power supply body 5 B in the electrode unit 50 and the upper surface of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 have a contact relationship with each other via a solution having conductivity.
  • “Galinstan” (registered trademark) is considered as such a solution, for example.
  • the power supply body 5 B as the first electrode conductive film includes a cooling medium flow path 58 flowing a cooling medium into an inner portion of the power supply body 5 B.
  • the cooling medium flow path 58 is provided in a major part of a region of the power supply body 5 B while meandering in a plan view to flow the cooling medium into the whole power supply body 5 B.
  • the power supply body 5 B includes, in a surface thereof, a cooling medium inlet 56 for receiving the cooling medium from the outer portion and supply the cooling medium to the cooling medium flow path 58 and a cooling medium outlet 57 for exhausting the cooling medium flowing in the cooling medium flow path 58 to the outer portion.
  • FIG. 35 is an explanation diagram schematically illustrating a cooling structure in a basic configuration according to the embodiment 3.
  • the cooling medium is supplied from the outer portion along a flow D 1 , and is exhausted to the outer portion along a flow D 2 of the cooling medium.
  • a cooling function is achieved by current introduction members 14 A and 14 B and the power supply body 5 B.
  • the cooling structure illustrated in FIG. 35 is provided in each of the electrode units 51 to 53 as the plurality of electrode units.
  • the current introduction members 14 A and 14 B are provided to pass through the chassis upper part 1 c of the chassis 1 ( 1 X).
  • the current introduction members 14 A and 14 B serving as first and second current introduction members have the same structure.
  • the current introduction member 14 A in the current introduction members 14 A and 14 B is representatively described hereinafter.
  • the current introduction member 14 A includes a conduction pipe 141 , a flange 142 , and an insulator 143 as main constituent elements.
  • the conduction pipe 141 and the flange 142 have conductivity, and the insulator 143 has an insulation property.
  • the conduction pipe 141 is used as an electrical connection means of electrically connecting the alternating-current power source 15 and the power supply body 5 B, and further includes a through port through which the cooling medium can be transported.
  • the conduction pipe 141 and the insulator 143 are joined, the flange 142 and the insulator 143 are joined, thus the conduction pipe 141 , the flange 142 , and the insulator 143 have an integrated structure.
  • the insulator 143 is provided between the conduction pipe 141 and the flange 142 , thus an electrical connection between the conduction pipe 141 and the flange 142 is prevented.
  • Each of the current introduction members 14 A and 14 B are fixed to the chassis upper part 1 c of the chassis 1 X by the flange 142 .
  • the current introduction member 14 A as the first current introduction member has an electrical connection relationship with the power supply body 5 B, and is connected to the power supply body 5 B so that the cooling medium can be supplied from the cooling medium inlet 56 to the cooling medium flow path 58 through the conduction pipe 141 . That is to say, the current introduction member 14 A is electrically connected to the power supply body 5 B by the conduction pipe 141 , and the cooling medium flowing in the conduction pipe 141 is supplied from the cooling medium inlet 56 to the cooling medium flow path 58 .
  • the current introduction member 14 B as the second current introduction member has an electrical connection relationship with the power supply body 5 B, and is connected to the power supply body 5 B so that the cooling medium can be exhausted to the outer portion from the cooling medium outlet 57 through the conduction pipe 141 . That is to say, the current introduction member 14 B is electrically connected to the power supply body 5 B by the conduction pipe 141 , and the cooling medium flowing in the conduction pipe 141 is supplied to the outer portion.
  • Joining by welding or connection via a joint is adopted as a means of connecting the conduction pipe 141 and the power supply body 5 B in each of the current introduction members 14 A and 14 B.
  • the active gas generation apparatus 73 as the basic configuration according to the embodiment 3 having the configuration describe above has an effect described hereinafter in addition to the effect in the embodiment 1.
  • the power supply body 5 B includes the cooling medium flow path 58 therein, thus when the cooling medium supplied from the cooling medium inlet 56 flows into the cooling medium flow path 58 and is then exhausted to the outer portion from the cooling outlet 57 , the power supply body 5 B and the high voltage side dielectric film 2 provided on the lower side of the power supply body 5 B can be cooled.
  • the current introduction members 14 A and 14 B further include the cooling structure of circulating the cooling medium to the cooling medium flow path 58 of the power supply body 5 B in addition to the current introduction function of providing the alternating-current voltage from the alternating-current power source 15 to the power supply body 5 B, thus can cool each of the current introduction members 14 A and 14 B while reducing the number of components to a minimum necessary.
  • Allowable current of the current introduction members 14 A and 14 B is generally determined by an allowable temperature of the current introduction members 14 A and 14 B, thus the allowable current can be significantly increased even in the current introduction members 14 A and 14 B in which the conduction pipe 141 made up of a thin conductor is used by the configuration capable of cooling the current introduction members 14 A and 14 B themselves.
  • the solution having conductivity is provided between the high voltage side dielectric film 2 and the power supply body 5 B, thus thermal conductivity between the power supply body 5 B and the high voltage side dielectric film 2 can be increased, and a problem that a minute gap occurs between the power supply body 5 B and the high voltage side dielectric film 2 due to a tolerance or surface roughness in processing can be resolved.
  • each of the electrode units 51 to 53 in the active gas generation apparatus 71 according to the embodiment 3 can perform discharge at high power, and a high concentration of the active gas G 2 can be achieved.
  • FIG. 36 is an explanation diagram schematically illustrating a cooling structure in an active gas generation apparatus 73 X as a modification example of the embodiment 3.
  • FIG. 36 illustrates the electrode units 51 and 52 as the first and second electrode units.
  • the same sign is assigned to the same constituent parts as those in the active gas generation apparatus 71 according to the embodiment 1 and the active gas generation apparatus 73 as the basic configuration of the embodiment 3, and characterizing portions of the active gas generation apparatus 73 X as the modification example of the embodiment 3 is mainly described hereinafter.
  • the cooling medium flow path 58 , the cooling medium inlet 56 , and the cooling medium outlet 57 in the electrode unit 52 as the second electrode unit are defined as the second cooling medium flow path, the second cooling medium inlet, and the second cooling medium outlet, respectively.
  • a buffer conductor 13 and relay conduction pipes 131 to 134 are added as new constituent elements in the active gas generation apparatus 73 X of the modification example.
  • the buffer conductor 13 serves as a cooling medium relay member, and the relay conduction pipes 131 to 134 serve as first to fourth relay conduction pipes.
  • the second cooling medium flow condition . . . A condition that the cooling medium flows between the first cooling medium outlet and the relay cooling medium flow path 135 through the relay conduction pipe 132 .
  • the current introduction members 14 A and 14 B are commonly used in the electrode units 51 and 52 in the active gas generation apparatus 73 X as the modification example.
  • the active gas generation apparatus 73 X as the modification example of the embodiment 3 having the configuration describe above has an effect described hereinafter in addition to the effect of the basic configuration in the embodiment 1 and the embodiment 3.
  • the relay conduction pipes 131 to 134 are disposed between the buffer conductor 13 and the power supply body 5 B of each of the electrode units 51 and 52 so as to satisfy the first to fourth cooling medium flow conditions described above.
  • the active gas generation apparatus 73 X of the modification example can circulate the cooling medium to one loop of the cooling medium to cool the power supply body 5 B of the electrode unit 51 and the power supply body 5 B of the electrode 52 together.
  • One loop of the cooling medium includes the current introduction member 14 A, the through flow path 136 , the relay conduction pipe 131 , the first cooling medium inlet, the first cooling medium flow path, the first cooling medium outlet, the relay conduction pipe 132 , the relay cooling medium flow path 135 , the relay conduction pipe 133 , the second cooling medium inlet, the second cooling medium flow path, the second cooling medium outlet, the relay conduction pipe 134 , the through flow path 137 , and the current introduction member 14 B.
  • the modification example illustrated in FIG. 36 indicates the cooling structure regarding the combination of the electrode units 51 and 52 .
  • the cooling structure regarding the combination of the electrode units 51 to 53 can be achieved only by the current introduction members 14 A and 14 B by expanding the cooling structure of the modification example.
  • FIG. 37 is an explanation diagram illustrating a cross-section structure of an electrode unit 50 X used in an active gas generation apparatus 74 according to the embodiment 4.
  • the electrode unit 50 X corresponds to any of the electrode units 51 to 53 described in the embodiment 1.
  • a whole configuration of the active gas generation apparatus 74 is similar to that of the active gas generation apparatus 71 illustrated in FIG. 1 .
  • the electrode unit 50 X has a feature that the high voltage side dielectric film 2 of the electrode unit 50 according to the embodiment 1 is replaced with the high voltage side dielectric film 2 .
  • the high voltage side dielectric film 2 B includes an insulator structure part 24 having a triple circular structure in a plan view on the peripheral surface region 27 around the power supply body arrangement concave part 28 .
  • the insulator structure part 24 has a concave-convex structure provided on an upper surface of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 B.
  • FIG. 38 illustrates the insulator structure part 24 formed of a dielectric made up of the same constituent material as the high voltage side dielectric film 2 B.
  • the high voltage side dielectric film 2 B in the electrode unit 50 X includes the insulator structure part 24 having the concave-convex structure on an upper surface thereof which is not overlapped with the power supply body 5 and the dielectric film suppression member 11 in a plan view. That is to say, in the embodiment 4, the insulator structure part 24 is provided on the upper surface thereof corresponding to the exposed region EX 2 of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 according to the embodiment 1 illustrated in FIG. 2 , for example.
  • FIG. 37 illustrates the insulator structure part 24 formed of the dielectric.
  • the electrode unit 50 X includes the insulator structure part 24 between the dielectric film suppression member 11 and the power supply body 5 on the upper surface of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 B.
  • the first method is a method of performing cutting process on a flat upper surface of a basic structure of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 B to manufacture the high voltage side dielectric film 2 B selectively including the insulator structure part 24 on the upper surface thereof.
  • the insulator structure part 24 is made up of the same constituent material as the high voltage side dielectric film 2 B.
  • the second method is a method of selectively bonding the insulator structure part 24 with an adhesive agent on a flat upper surface of a basic structure of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 B after separately manufacturing the insulator structure part 24 , thereby manufacturing the high voltage side dielectric film 2 B.
  • the insulator structure part 24 may be made up of the same constituent material as the high voltage side dielectric film 2 B, or may also be made up of a different constituent material.
  • the high voltage side dielectric film 2 B of the electrode unit 50 X includes the insulator structure part 24 having the concave-convex structure between the dielectric film suppression member 11 and the power supply body 5 on the upper surface thereof, thus can prevent creeping discharge between the power supply body 5 and the dielectric film suppression member 11 .
  • the constituent material of the insulator structure part 24 is the same dielectric as that of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 B, however, the insulator structure part 24 may also be formed of a constituent material other than the dielectric different from that of the high voltage side dielectric film 2 B.
  • each embodiment can be arbitrarily combined, or each embodiment can be appropriately varied or omitted within a scope of the present disclosure.

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US20250016904A1 (en) 2025-01-09
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WO2024084640A1 (ja) 2024-04-25
JPWO2024084640A1 (https=) 2024-04-25

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